13th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
Drying out wings

This Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) decided to take a bath at the end of the day. Before lifting off to another place, it had to dry the wings. During a minute or so, it was perfectly still and beating the wings. At the end it started to be lifted up and had to stop to return to the ground.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 04.2013
Date Uploaded: 10.2015
Photo Location: Évora, Portugal
Camera: Canon EOS 7D
Copyright: © Diogo Oliveira